The Koothrappali Conflict
by Jellybean82
Summary: Raj has finally found a woman he thinks is smart, sexy, fun and most of all he can talk to her without alcohol. As his relationship starts to blossom he wants to be able to include his new friend with his old friends, but everyone isn't as excited and accepting of this new person in Raj's life. ***First Fanfic. Please leave your thoughts and review!***
1. Chapter 1- The Secret

It's a busy afternoon in the Caltech cafeteria. The bustle of people walking around and talking can he heard as Leonard, Howard, Sheldon and Raj sit at their table and have lunch.

"So gentlemen, are we on for the Halo tournament tonight?" Sheldon asks.

"Yep!" Leonard replies.

"I'm in." says Howard.

Raj sits quietly and continues to eat his food. Sheldon looks at Raj waiting for a response.

"Koothrappali, will you be joining us this evening?"

Raj sheepishly looks up from his plate and shakes his head no.

"No!" Sheldon exclaims, "We always have an even number of players! What could be so important that you're willing to miss Halo night?"

Raj looks at his friends and quietly says "Um, I kinda have a date."

"Whoa..whoa...whoa... come again." Howard says with a look of confusion on his face. "Why is this the first time I'm hearing about this date? Who is the lucky gal...It is a girl right?"

"Dude", Raj protests throwing his hands up, "Why would you ask that?"

Howard just shrugs as Leonard quizzically tilts his head, squints his eyes and asks "Were you drinking when you asked her out? How is that going to work on your date?"

"I wasn't drinking", Raj explains, "I've known her for a while and have always been attracted to her, but I was never able to talk to her."

"So why are you able to talk to her now?" Leonard asks.

"I don't know. Well she's not involved with anyone anymore that certainly helps. We ran into each other a few days ago and at first I still couldn't speak to her, but she continued to talk to me and when she was about to walk away its like something came over me and I had to speak to her. I just couldn't stand there and not say anything to her."

"Wow, you must really like this girl, when do we get to meet her?" Leonard asks.

"Yeah, maybe you can double date with Bernie and myself", Howard suggests, "What's her name anyway?"

Raj begins to quickly gather his things and gets up from the table.

"Um, yeah...maybe...we'll see...I've got to go."

Raj quickly walks off and out of the cafeteria. Concerned with Raj's reaction to their questioning, Leonard, Howard, and Sheldon sit and continue to talk.

"What do you think that's all about" Leonard asks.

"Well, from what I observed it would appear that Rajesh doesn't want you to know who he is dating." Sheldon replies.

"We know that Sheldon, but why... what is he hiding?" Leonard asks

Howard, with a look of concern on on his face says "I don't know, but we'll talk to him about it later."


	2. Chapter 2- The Date

Sitting alone in a dimly lit restaurant Raj is anxiously waiting for his date to arrive. As he sits he nervously fiddles his thumbs when as a soft hand touches his shoulder. Raj turns around and the sight of his date puts a huge smile on his face..

"Hey Leslie" he says as he stands to greet her.

"Hey Raj" Leslie responds, "Sorry I'm late."

"It's okay." Raj replies "I'm just glad you're here."

The two embrace each other and give each other a small kiss on the cheek. Raj pulls out Leslie's seat and the two sit.

"How did the guys feel about you missing Halo night?" Leslie asked.

"Everyone seemed okay about it, except Sheldon. You know how he is."

"You didn't tell them you were going out with me did you?" Leslie asked

"No." Raj replied "They were asking but I left. Howard even offered a double date with him and Bernadette."

Leslie made an uncomfortable face and said "I don't know if that would work out."

Raj took Leslie's hand and stroked it with his thumb.

"I think it will work out okay. Are you going to at least try to make things comfortable? I want to start bringing you around."

Leslie pulls her hand away

"I don't think they are going to want me around."

"They will." Raj reassures her, "But if you're not ready, we can wait."

Leslie looks at Raj, smiles and says "Ok."


	3. Chapter 3- The Discovery

The following morning Raj is in his office with the door closed. Leslie sits on the edge of his desk, legs crossed with both hands on the desk behind her. She gently swings her legs back and forth as she talks.

"I had a great time last night Raj, Thanks."

"Oh, no problem." Raj responds. "I can't wait to do it again."

Raj walks over to Leslie and puts a hand around her waist. He gently kisses her on the lips. Leslie bashfully grins.

"Alright, I better get to the lab" Leslie says as she hops off of the desk.

The two walk over to the door. Raj grabs the door knob and opens the door to let Leslie out.

"I'll talk to you later" she says as she gives him a peck on the cheek.

Just as she turns to walk out of the door Leonard and Howard walk up and have seen the two kiss. Leslie almost walks into them, not knowing that they were there.

"Uh... hey guys." She says as she rushes out of the door. Raj turns away and heads back into his office as a stunned Howard and Leonard follow behind him.

"Leslie!" Leonard says in anger and slight confusion. "Leslie Winkle! My ex-girlfriend Leslie."

Raj turns around and crosses his arms over his chest. "Your ex-girlfriend? You two were never a couple, you just went out a few times"

Howard who is watching with the same stunned expression dramatically says "That woman broke my heart... how could you."

"Look, we'll talk about this later." Raj says as he shoos the two out of the door.


	4. Chapter 4- The Confrontation

Its lunchtime and Raj and Sheldon are together at the lunch table when Leonard and Howard walk up and sit down. Raj immediately stops talking. Leonard and Howard just look at Raj without saying anything. Sheldon who is unaware of what is going on looks around at his friends and senses some tension.

"I can't help but to observe some tension between the three of you, is that a correct assumption?"

There is still silence at the table until Leonard finally blurts out

"What are you thinking?!"

"Why do you care?" Raj snaps back.

"Wait a minute..." Sheldon says trying to calm the group down.

"I need to know what we are arguing about so that I may take a side."

"Its nothing Sheldon" Raj says trying to forget it all.

Leonard turns to Sheldon "Raj has been seeing Leslie Winkle behind my back!"

Sheldon lets out a long exasperated sigh and cuts his eye at Raj.

"Rajesh... I always expected better from you."

"What is that supposed to mean" Raj asks.

"Well this is the kind of thing that I expect from Wolowitz, or even Leonard. I just assumed you were better than this."

"Better than what?" Raj asks. "And what do you mean seeing her behind your back? You have a girlfriend and Howard is married. Neither one of you should be worried about Leslie. Leonard, you never acted like this when Howard was seeing with her."

"Well that's different." Leonard shoots back.

"How is it different?" Raj asks.

"Because its Howard." Leonard replied.

Just then an annoyed Sheldon stood up to leave.

"I'm just bothered by this whole thing. I swear every time we rid ourselves of that Leslie Winkle, one of you fools brings her back. I'm not understanding what you see in her."

Sheldon throws his trash away and walks out. Meanwhile the guys stay and talk.

"Look guys... I wasn't trying to be sneaky. Like I said before I always did like Leslie, I just couldn't talk to her. Then you started dating her and I left it alone. When she came and spoke to me last week I felt like I needed to say something before I missed my chance. And honestly... I really, really like her."

Leonard and Howard begin to relax and become a little more comfortable with the idea of Raj dating Leslie.

"Leslie can be pretty cool to talk to and hang out with." Leonard says.

"I thought you were looking for a long term relationship, that's not really Leslie's thing... She's more of the hit it and quit it type." Howard says.

"Yeah, Howard would know!" Leonard laughs

Howard sits stonefaced as Raj and Leonard laugh at him.

"Well we are trying to take things slow. We've been talking ever since she came back ' from her research trip. And we just went on our first date last night and it was nice."

Raj paused for a second and started to smile

"It was fun... I had a lot of fun."

"Well, It seems like you really like her. I tell you what, why don't you invite her over for dinner and to hang out with everyone." Leonard suggests

"Uh, I don't know" Raj hesitates "I don't think she's ready for that yet. She's the one that didn't want me to tell you guys we were dating. She didn't know how it would be received. I'll ask her and see what she says."

"Great, just let me know what you decide to do." Leonard says as he stands and leaves the cafeteria.


	5. Chapter 5- THe Invite

After lunch as Raj is making his way back to his office he sees Leslie walk into the lab. He does a slight jog to try to catch up to her. When he reaches the Lab he stops in the doorway and knocks. Leslie who was just about to put on her goggles turns around and sees Raj. She sits her goggles down on the table and walks over to the door.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" she asks.

"Oh, I saw you walking down the hall and I figured I would come and say hi."

"Well that was sweet of you. Hey how awkward was that this morning. I was not expecting them to show up."

"Yeah, I wasn't either."

"So, is everything okay. What did you say." Leslie asks

"Everything is fine. They weren't too happy about it at first but they are okay with it now. Well Leonard and Howard are. Sheldon isn't too happy, he actually said he thought I knew better."

"Wow..." Leslie says as she shakes her head.

"Leonard actually wanted me to invite you over for dinner."

"What did you say?"

"I told him I didn't know if you were ready yet and that I would ask you."

Leslie scrunched up her face and starts to walk back into the lab with Raj following behind her.

"I don't know Raj, I still feel like it would seem awkward. Plus I don't think I'm ready to spend an evening with Dr. Dumbass Cooper. Maybe we should get a few more one on one dates in before we let him start to ruin things."

Raj laughs and takes Leslie's hand.

"Alright. Well what are you doing tonight?" he asks.

"Nothing that I can think of, do you have something in mind?"

"Let's do something fun... what would you like to do?"

Leslie thinks for a second and starts to laugh.

"You're going to think I'm crazy, but I like to get drunk and sing karaoke!"

"ME TOO!" Raj says "I know the perfect place we can grab something to eat, get wasted and sing our hearts out!"

"Sounds like a date. Call me later alright." Leslie says as she starts to put her goggles on.

"Alright, talk to you later." Raj says as he walks out of the door.


	6. Chapter 6- The Drunken Night

Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, Penny, Bernadette, and Amy are all at Leonard and Sheldon's apartment having dinner. Leonard passes out everyone's food as they all talk among themselves. Penny takes her container and then grabs Leonard's arm.

" Hey, did anyone call Raj? Is he coming over for dinner?" she asks.

"I don't think so." Leonard says.

"Why not, Raj always comes over for dinner..."

"Well, he's been dating someone so I'm guessing that's where he is."

"Whoa, Raj is dating someone! Have you guys met her?" Penny asks.

"Oh, we've met her alright." Howard says with a grin on his face.

"O...k... is that supposed to mean something?" Penny asks.

"Raj is dating Leslie Winkle." Leonard says.

Penny' s mouth drops "How did that happen?"

"We don't know. He said he saw her when she came back from her research trip and they have been talking ever since."

"That's a really odd choice... Leslie's kinda been around the block." Penny says snickering to herself..

"What do you mean by that?" Asks Bernadette.

"Well Leonard dated Leslie for a while, she hooked up with Howard a few times, and now its Raj's turn. I guess when she's done with him, it's on to Sheldon."

"Excuse Me!" Sheldon interjects, "I am not interested in anything Leslie Winkle has to offer. I am especially not interested in becoming her boy toy."

"Lets just hope she doesn't try it... I may have to challenge her to a physical confrontation if she messes with my Sheldon." Amy says flatly. Penny and Bernadette just laugh while Leonard and Howard look shocked at what Amy has just said. Sheldon continues eating his food as if nothing ever happened at all.

Meanwhile, across town Raj and Leslie are at the local karaoke bar. They sit together in a booth and order several drinks. They have been drinking for a while and have both become loud and obnoxious and sloppy drunk.

"Okay, okay, okay... I'm ready to sing." Leslie says while laughing and hanging off of Raj.

Leslie jumps up from the table and goes up to find her karaoke song to sing. As she flips through the book she finds the song she wants to sing and takes off back to the table and grabs Raj by hand.

"Come on! I need you up front for this." Leslie says pulling Raj to the front. As she looks around for an empty chair she finds one close enough to the stage. She pulls him to the empty seat and pushes him down in the chair.

The young woman who is on stage finally wraps up her song.

"Everybody give it up for Kassidy" The Dj says.

As Kassidy walks off stage Leslie runs onto stage and takes the microphone.

"What's you name sweetheart?" The DJ asks.

"Leslie" she says impatiently.

"What will you be singing tonight?"

"Just play the song and you'll see." She says as she puts on a big smile and enthusiastically waves at Raj. She turns around with her back to the audience as the music starts. She stays turned around until she starts to sing the first notes of the song. As Leslie sings she looks at Raj and seductively dances around him. When Leslie finishes the last line of the first verse Raj is turned on and lets out a loud "HELL YEAH!" and hops up on stage, grabs Leslie and the two start making out. The DJ tries, with no luck, to get the two to get back to karaoke when that fails he stops the music. The sound of the music stopping made Leslie mad.

"What the hell did you do that for?" She says while glaring at the DJ

"You're not singing, this is karaoke." The DJ snaps at her.

"Whatever, we're out of here." Leslie and Raj walk off stage head to their table and gather their belongings. While outside of the karaoke bar the two talk, kiss, and wait for a cab.

"That was the sexiest thing I have ever seen." says a drunken Raj.

"Really? Well things can get a lot sexier."

Just then a taxicab stops and picks them up. While riding in the cab things get steamy between the two of them as they make out the entire ride in the backseat. They had both agreed that they would go back to Leslie's apartment for a while. As the two make the elevator ride up to Leslie's apartment Leslie leans up against the wall as Raj passionately kisses her. When the elevator stops they get out and make their way to Leslie's apartment. The two stumble inside to the couch, still making out and undressing each other and as they begin to lie on the couch, Leslie realizes what she is doing and sits up.

"Raj, wait." she says

"Yeah"

"I don't think I can do this... I said I wasn't going to do this , this soon. We have to stop. You're not mad are you?" she asks.

"No, I'm not mad." Raj says.

"Are you sure? I don't want you to think I was leading you on. I really like you and I want more than just a sexual relationship." Leslie explains.

"Really, I understand." Raj reassured her.

Leslie gives him a peck on the cheek.

"You're more than welcome to stay the night. You'll have to sleep on the couch. I don't think I can trust myself with you in my bed tonight." Leslie says as she laughs.

"I'll go home, I don't want to intrude." Raj says as he stands to leave.

"You won't be intruding, plus it will put my mind at ease. I'll know you're safe."

"Alright. I'll stay."

"Great. I'll go get you a pillow and blanket."

Leslie leaves the room to get Raj a sheet, pillow, and blanket. She comes back and helps get him get situated then gives him a sweet hug and kiss.

"Goodnight" she says as she walks to her room.

"Goodnight" Raj says as he settles in on the couch, and falls asleep.


	7. Chapter 7- The Morning After

Its 8:15 in the morning and a hung over Raj wakes up hair tousled and wild. As soon as he sits up pain rushes to his forehead. He lets out a groan and closes his eyes. He can hear noises coming from another room in the house, but he is in too much pain to get up. Leslie is in the kitchen cooking breakfast for Raj and herself when she thought she heard a noise. She figures Raj is awake and peeks in the livingroom to check on him.

"Hey, are you up?" She whispers in case he is still asleep

"Yeah, I'm up." Raj can barely get the words out.

"Are you okay?" Leslie asks

"I have a crazy headache... do you have any Tylenol?"

"Yeah, I'll get you some."

Leslie walks back into the kitchen and grabs the bottle of Tylenol out of the cabinet and gets Raj a bottle of water from out of the refrigerator. She walks over to him and hands them to him.

"Do you want some coffee or anything?" She asks.

"Not right now." Raj says trying to get himself together. "Are you cooking, something smells good."

"Yeah, I decided I would be a good hostess and cook you breakfast. I don't know what you like so I just made french toast, scrambled eggs, and sausage.. I wasn't sure about the sausage, but I have some fresh fruit. So there is plenty to choose from if you want anything."

"Sounds good, I don't know how you had the energy for that this morning. I feel like I'm on my deathbed."

"My Tylenol has already kicked in" Leslie replies "I've been up for a while."

"I can get used to waking up like this. "

"Well don't!" Leslie laughs " It doesn't happen that often."

"Besides waking up with this splitting headache, I had a lot of fun. I like hanging out with you Leslie"

" I like hanging out with you too Raj, you're a lot more fun than I thought."

"Why do you say that?" Raj asks.

"Well, you can only imagine how much fun you're going to have with a guy who would never talk to you. I always kinda wonder if you're going to slip back into that whole mutism thing."

"I don't think you have anything to worry about." Raj laughs.

Raj looks down at his bottle of water and begins to fidget. Leslie can tell that he wants to say something but is unsure of what it is.

"Are you alright?" she asks him.

"Yeah" he says softly.

Leslie sits next to him and watches him fidget for a moment.

" Is something on your mind, you look like you have something to say. Are you mad about last night?"

"Oh, no...no..no" he replies "Um... I do have something on my mind, but I don't want to scare you off." Raj says nervously.

"You ARE scaring me..." Leslie says with a nervous laugh.

"Well, I know that you're not ready for a serious relationship right now, but I really enjoy talking to you and spending time with you. I want to continue to get to know you, and continue to spend time together, and even if we aren't in a serious relationship I do want to work towards one... with you."

Leslie looks as Raj and smiles.

"I would like that but how do you suggest we go about that without it being a serious relationship." Leslie asks.

"Maybe we can date exclusively." Raj suggests. "We'll see how things go and then we can go from there. If things continue to go well we can discuss taking things to the next level."

"I think I can do that." Leslie says

"Great," Raj says as he leans in and kisses her. "There's just one thing I want to ask of you."

Leslie leans back and gives Raj a look of annoyance.

"You want me to hang out with your friends."

"It doesn't have to be all the time. I just would like to have you all together. Even if it's just me, you, Howard, and Bernadette. Howard's my best friend and Bernadette's a sweetheart, you'll love her. "

"I thought hanging out with each other's friends was something that we do after we have decided to go ahead and pursue the relationship."

"Come on Leslie."

"Ok, fine. Why don't you invite everyone to the salsa class we were going to take. That should be a good group activity on neutral territory."

" That sounds fun, thanks"

"No problem. Come on, Lets have some breakfast." Leslie says as she walks to the kitchen. Leslie and Raj walk into the kitchen to get their breakfast. After breakfast Raj leaves so that he can go home and take a shower. Not long after getting home his phone starts to ring. He looks a the caller ID and sees that its Howard.

"Hello."

"Hey, Raj?" Howard says.

"Yeah, what's up Howard."

"Where have you been? I called you a couple of times last night, everyone was wondering if you were coming over for dinner."

"Oh, I just got home. I went out with Leslie last night."

"Did you say that you're just getting home?" Howard asks

"It's not like that." Raj explains. "We were drunk, I slept on the couch."

"You slept on the couch!" What's wrong with you?! Don't you know women are more vulnerable when they're drunk? We all know Leslie loves sex... That should have been a sure thing."

"Dude, that's not cool. I'm dating her now, show a little respect." Raj demands.

"Okay, I'm sorry. Hey are you going over to Leonard and Sheldon's place today?"

"Yeah, I'm getting ready now. I'll be over in about an hour.

"Alright, I'll see you there."

They hang up the phones and Raj continues to get himself ready to go hang out with his friends.


	8. Chapter 8- The Resistance

Leonard and Sheldon are in their apartment preparing for the arrival of Howard and Raj. As Sheldon pulls out his old Nintendo and Sega Genesis, he stops and smiles with delight.

"You know what, Leonard." He says.

"What." Leonard replies.

"I'm really looking forward to vintage game night with the guys. Its been awhile since we've all gotten together and given ol' Mario a good run around."

"It has been awhile, hasn't it." Leonard says.

"Why, yes it has. To be honest with you this couldn't have come at a better time, Amy Farrah Fowler is starting to suffocate me."

Leonard laughs at the thought of Sheldon going on about girl troubles.

"Why do you say that?"

"She is on this impossible mission to turn me into what she calls a normal boyfriend or the perfect boyfriend. I've heard her use both terms."

"What is she doing?"

"Getting on my nerves to be honest. I'm pretty much as close to perfect as a person can get so I don't know what she is hoping to accomplish."

"I'm guessing a lot."

Just then, there is a knock at the door. Leonard puts down the game cartridges that he has in his hand and opens the door.

"Hey guys, come in."

"Look what I found in my moms attic!" Howard says rushing inside. "Its my old Atari! I forgot all about this thing."

"Wow." Sheldon says rushing over to take a look. "Now this is what vintage game night is all about! Let's get started."

The guys set up their various gaming systems and start playing. They play their games well into the evening eventually playing until the pizza they order for dinner arrives."

"Alright guys let's take a break and eat, I'm starving." Leonard says.

Everyone saves their games and begins to eat.

"So Raj, how are things going with Leslie?" He asks.

"Pretty good. We're having a lot of fun together. She's a sweet girl."

"A sweet girl.." Sheldon interrupts. "There is nothing sweet about Leslie Winkle. And honestly I don't want to spend the rest of vintage game night talking about her. She is mean and manipulative and apparently I'm the only one who sees it."

"No she's not, in fact we are supposed to take a salsa class and she wanted me to invite everyone. If you ask me that's pretty nice of her."

"Of course you would say so. I will have to decline the invitation, dancing salsa with my nemesis is not my idea of a good time. "

"Come on Sheldon, it will be something fun for all of us to do together with the ladies. You know Amy will want to go if Penny and Bernadette go."

"I seriously doubt it. We can settle this now, let's Skype Amy and see what she says."

Sheldon and Raj walk over to Sheldon's computer desk. Sheldon opens his laptop and gets Amy on Skype.

"Hello Amy." Sheldon says. Raj waves in the background.

"Hello Sheldon, Raj." Amy replies."What's going on? I thought you didn't want to be bothered on vintage game night."

"I don't , I just need to settle something with Koothrappali."

"Okay, what is it?"

"We have been invited to participate in a salsa dancing lesson along with Leonard, Penny, Howard, Bernadette, Raj, and Leslie Winkle. I already declined for us, but Raj insists that you would be interested in going. Tell him he's being ridiculous."

"Actually, it sounds like fun. Lets do it."

"What! Amy, I'm sure that we can find better things to do with our time."

"Come on Sheldon, stop being such a stiff, we're going. I have to go now talk to you later."

Amy quickly disconnects the line. A stunned Sheldon stands there silently then turns and looks at Raj who is standing there smiling.

"I told you she would want to go. " Raj says. "I tell you what, if it will make you feel better I will ask Leslie to be nice and to not call you names."

"Fine." Sheldon says. "Come on, Lets get back to our games."


	9. Chapter 9- The Salsa Dance Class

Leslie has just stepped out of the shower when she hears a knock on her door. She grabs a towel and wraps it around herself and runs to the living room to see who is there. She stands on the tips of her toes as she peeks through the peephole and quickly opens the door.

"What the hell are you wearing?" She says.

Raj walks inside and his look of confidence turns to confusion.

"What's wrong with this?" He says.

"I don't think so."

"What?"

"You look ridiculous!"

"This is an authentic latin dance outfit. It's completely appropriate for the occasion."

"Its purple satin with sequins and lace. I'm not going anywhere with you wearing that."

"This shirt cost me almost $200."

"Well take it back and get a refund...its hideous. Anyway, we're going to one dance lesson and the last time I checked you weren't the teacher."

"I don't have a change of clothes with me."

"We can stop by your place on the way to the studio. Give me a couple of minutes to get ready."

Leslie shakes her head in disbelief as she walks to her bedroom. When she turns around to close the door she sees Raj has followed her to the bedroom. Upon seeing him she laughs and playfully pushes him away.

"You are not coming in here." She says jokingly.

"Why not, I won't try anything... I can just watch." Raj says with a sly smile.

"Sorry, not tonight. Go make yourself comfortable in the livingroom and feel free to rummage though the kitchen, I'll be out shortly."

She closes the door and continues to get herself ready. When she comes out Raj is watching tv and drinking a bottle of water.

"I got a bottle of water, is that alright?" He asks.

"That's fine, I told you to help yourself. " She says as she sits next to him. "So... will everyone be joining us this evening? "

"Yeah, everyone will be there."

"Really, everyone?"

"Yeah, even Sheldon. It took some convincing but he eventually agreed... Actually Amy agreed and is making him come."

"Well isn't that great. Greaaat...great..great."

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing's wrong...everything is great."

"You were hoping Sheldon wouldn't show, huh?"

"I was pretty much banking on it. And now that I know he didn't want to go but will be there anyway I might as well prepare myself for a night full of him whining like a little kid about what he would rather be doing."

Raj laughs and tries to comfort Leslie by rubbing her back.

"It'll be alright. I'm sure he will be on his best behavior."

"Sure he will." She says rolling her eyes.

"He will, but that's because he expects you to be on YOUR best behavior also."

"What do you mean by that?"

"No Sheldon jokes, no calling him names... stuff like that."

"Fine, if it will keep his ass quiet all night."

"It probably won't but its worth a try."

"Whatever... come on, let's go."

Leslie and Raj leave so that the can try to make it to the dance studio on time. On the way they stop by Raj's apartment so that he can change out of his latin dance outfit and into some regular clothes. When they arrive at the dance studio everyone is already there waiting on them. They get out of the car and rush inside. Once inside Raj introduces Leslie to everyone she doesn't know.

"Leslie, this is Amy...Sheldon's girlfriend."

"Hello." Amy says extending her hand.

"Nice to meet you." Leslie replies as she shakes her hand.

"And this is Bernadette, Howard's wife."

"Hi, nice to meet you" Leslie says.

"Nice to meet you too." Bernadette replies.

"And you know everyone else." Raj says gesturing to everyone else.

Leslie waves at everyone. Just then the dance instructor walks into the room and is ready to begin their lesson. He has everyone stand in the middle of the dance floor while he shows them some moves. Once he has shown everyone the moves to work on he puts all the couples in separate corners of the room to practice. Everyone is dancing and having a good time, even Sheldon. Raj and Leslie dance in their corner and everyone's attention is on them. They laugh and kiss and Raj takes every chance he can to spin her, pull her close and kiss her on the neck. In the opposite corner of the room, Leonard and Penny have taken notice of Raj and Leslie's chemistry.

"Wow, look at Raj and Leslie." Penny says.

"Yeah, I see." Leonard replies.

"They look really happy together. I'm happy for Raj."

"Yeah..."

"It's about time he found someone. He deserves it. I have to admit I was a little skeptical of the idea of him dating Leslie, but they look good together."

"You think so?"

"Yes, I Do."

Leonard and Penny continue to dance, but Leonard can't help but to glance over at Raj and Leslie whenever he gets the chance. Even though he told Raj he was okay with him dating Leslie, seeing the two of them together starts to bother him all over again.

"Alright everyone, lets take a break." The dance instructor yells out.

Everyone has a seat and talks amongst themselves. Raj sits on a chair in his corner and Leslie sits on his lap.

"I didn't know this would be so hard." Leslie laughs.

"Yeah, and it's a little hot... I guess its a good thing you made me change out of that outfit." Raj says.

"I'm going to go get some water. Do you want anything?"

"No, I'm going to rest my feet for a few."

Leslie gets up and goes out into the hall to the water cooler. Leonard sees that Leslie has walked out into the hall and decides he wants to speak to her."

"Hey Penny, I'm going to get a drink... I'll be right back." Leonard says as he walks off.

"Ok."

Leonard sprints across the room and out the studio doors. He sees Leslie standing by the water cooler and takes a deep breath as he walks over to her.

"Hey Leslie." He says.

"Hey Leonard, what's up?"

"Nothing much.. just came for a cup of water."

"Me too.. its pretty hot in there."

"Yes, it is."

"Are you having fun? I know dancing isn't really your thing, but it looks like Penny is having a good time. She seems pretty good at it."

"Yeah she's great... hey can I ask you something?"

"Sure, what is it."

"Is this some sort of revenge?"

"Excuse me?"

"I see the two of you in there, giggling and kissing, I can't help but to think you're trying to make me jealous."

"Why would I try to make you jealous? What we had was a long time ago, I'm over it."

"Why Raj?"

"Why not? He's a great guy.. I would think that you would know that."

"You're trying to get back at me because of Penny, aren't you? Is that why you're going out with my friend?"

"Leonard get over yourself. I am not in any way worried about you and Penny. I've never been jealous of you two. We dated a few times, it was nothing serious and if my memory serves me right the last time you came knocking on my door I slammed it in your face."

"You still didn't answer me... why Raj?"

"Why are you doing this? We're happy together. Don't you want him to be happy?"

"Yes, I want him to be happy."

"So what's the problem Leonard?" Leslie yells in frustration.

"I don't want him with you!" Leonard yells back.

Leslie looks at Leonard eyes wide, mouth open in disbelief. The two stand in silence, Leslie arms crossed and Leonard looking at the ground.

"You're unbelievable..." Leslie whispers. "What's wrong with me? You don't think I deserve a nice guy like Raj?"

"Of course you do, I just... I don't know..it just seems like the two of you are getting serious and I don't know how I feel about that."

"Oh, I get it... You don't want ME to be happy. You want to keep me in the wings so that whenever you and Penny break up you can try to run back to me? Well I'm sorry that's not going to happen. I like Raj, he's a wonderful guy and I'm not going to give that up to be YOUR second choice."

Leslie goes to walk back into the studio and as she opens the door she sees Penny has been standing there the entire time listening to their conversation. Leslie lets out a sigh and walks past Penny and back inside over to Raj. Penny walks out the doors and over to Leonard.

"What was that all about?"

"Nothing." Leonard replies.

"It didn't sound like nothing... it sounded like you have a problem with Raj and Leslie dating because you have feelings for her."

"I don't have feelings for Leslie... It's nothing to worry about. Come on let's go back inside.

Leonard takes Penny's hand and they walk back inside. Penny, although bothered by what she has just heard, decides to leave it alone for the time being and try to enjoy the rest of the night.


	10. Chapter 10- The Next Level

After a long night of dancing an exhausted Raj and Leslie head back to Raj's apartment for dinner. Raj unlocks the door and carries in two bags of Chinese food as Leslie follows behind carrying a bottle of wine. Leslie makes her way to the livingroom flops down on the couch and begins to take her shoes off.

"My feet are killing me" She says "If we ever do that again please remind me to wear flats."

"Why don't you get in the shower and I'll give you a foot massage when you get out." Raj suggests.

"Get in the shower, I don't have anything to wear."

"I can give you something... " He says.

"I guess I can go for a shower. "

Leslie makes her way into the bathroom and starts to run the shower. Raj puts all the food in the kitchen and then goes to the bedroom to let his dog Babita out.

"Hey there Babita!"

He takes Babita into the livingroom and plays with her for a while when Leslie yells out to him from the bathroom.

"Raj?"

"Yeah."

"Do you want to take a shower?"

"I'll wait for you to come out...take your time."

Leslie walks out into the livingroom with a towel wrapped around her. She walks up behind Raj and gives Babita a pat on the head.

"Raj. would you like to take a shower now...with me..."

Raj turns around and looks at Leslie in disbelief.

"Uh... I...uh...We'll be...I mean...I thought you weren't ready..."

"Maybe I changed my mind. But if you would rather sit out here and play with Babita..."

Leslie walks back into the bathroom. Raj is in shock as he stumbles and falls over himself trying to get up and catch up to Leslie.

"Sorry Babita... be good." he says as he sits the puppy down and runs to the bathroom. When he gets to the bathroom door he opens it slowly and a cloud of steam pours out. Raj is suddenly scared and intimidated as he walks in and approaches the shower. Leslie hears him come inside so she pulls the shower curtain open and looks at him.

"Are you getting in, or are you just gonna stand there?"

Raj begins to say something but finds that he suddenly can't speak. He looks around and tries again to talk and again the words fail to come out of his mouth.

"Seriously... now you can't speak!" Leslie says in frustration. "I tell you what, go in the kitchen and take a few swigs of wine and come back, but if this water starts to get cold before you make it back... you're out of luck."

Leslie snatches the shower curtain closed and Raj hurries to the kitchen. Searching frantically for the corkscrew, he finally finds it opens the wine and starts to chug it. He sits the bottle on the counter and adjusts his clothing and casually walks back to the bathroom. As he slowly pulls back the shower curtain Leslie turns around and glances over him.

"Do you have something to say? She says with an attitude.

"What do I do?" Raj responds shyly.

Leslie, happy to hear Raj speak, smiles and says "Take your clothes off and get in."

Raj slowly nods his head, takes his clothes off and steps inside the shower.


	11. Chapter11-The Relationship Establishment

Lying in bed staring at the ceiling with a slight smile on his face, Raj sits up and runs his hand through his water-soaked hair. He sits up against the backboard in shock and disbelief as he looks at his mocha colored skin still damp from the shower. Leslie carefully makes her way into the room carrying two plates of food as Babita runs around her feet.

"Come here Babita!" Raj calls out. "You're going to make Leslie fall."

"She's ok" Leslie says. "I thought you were putting on clothes."

"I was, but I started to think about what just happened and I got a little distracted."

"Was it okay?"

"Was it okay... It Was _GREAT_! I hate to say this so soon, but I think that may be the best I have ever had."

"Really!? Well I am pretty good at everything I do."

"Oh yeah... and I have never had sex in the shower before. It was quite the adventure."

"It was quite the adventure." Leslie says mocking Raj's accent.

"Don't mock me Leslie..."

"Sorry, you just sound so adorable."

Leslie sits the two plates down on the night stand and hops up on the bed and onto Raj's lap.

"Looks like you want to go again." Raj says seductively.

"No, I want to eat and then I want the foot massage you promised me."

She rolls off and sits next to him in the bed.

"Ew , maybe we should go in the livingroom... I didn't realize it was so wet in here. Come on, put on some clothes. We'll watch a movie or something.

"Alright, I'll be out in a minute."

Leslie picks up a plate of food with one hand and Babita with the other hand and makes her way to the livingroom. Raj gets out of bed, walks over to the dresser and looks at himself in the mirror. He checks himself out for a few and gives an approving nod. He opens a drawer and pulls out a pair of sweatpants , puts them on and grabs his food and makes his way to the livingroom and sits next to Leslie.

"What are you watching?" He asks

"Nothing, trying to find something."

"I have some movies if you want to watch one. "

"Sure I guess."

Leslie walks over to the dvd tower to find a movie to watch, after scanning over the movies a few times she laughs and turns to Raj.

"What's with all the Sandra Bullock movies?"

"What? You don't like Sandra Bullock? Her movies are so romantic, and delightfully funny."

"I can kinda see why people would mistake you as being gay."

"Because of the movies I watch, that's so close-minded."

"Alright, why don't we watch this." Leslie says showing Raj a movie.

"That's a good one."

Leslie puts the dvd in and sits back down on the couch. When she sits Raj takes her legs and puts them over his lap and begins to massage her feet. She continues to eat her food as Raj gently rubs her feet."

"Wow Raj, that feels great."

"Hey, I'm good at what I do too."

"I see."

"Hey Leslie, do you think we can revisit the conversation we had the other day?"

"What conversation?"

"About our relationship."

"Alright."

"I know that I said that I wasn't going to pressure you and that we would see where things would take us, but I want us to be together. I want to be with you. And being as though we have now taken our relationship to the next level sexually, why not take our relationship as a whole to the next level. I think I'd make a good boyfriend Leslie, you won't regret it."

Leslie smiles and then a look of sadness comes across her face.

"I know you'll be a great boyfriend, that's not what I'm worried about. I'm worried about _me_. I'm not good at relationships and I don't know how _I_ would be as a girlfriend. I don't want to hurt you and I don't want you to regret being with me."

"We don't know what will happen until we try, but I know I won't regret it... But it's up to you, like I said before whatever you want to do..."

"I guess we can give it a try." Leslie says as her smile starts to some back. "But you might have to be patient with me."

"Of course I will." Raj says as he leans in a gives Leslie a kiss. The two snuggle up to each other and continue to watch their movie.


	12. Chapter 12-The Pre-Lecture Stress Relief

Alone in her office, Leslie holds a stack of note cards in her hand as she stares out the window. As she slowly moves away from the window she hears a faint knock at the door.

_*knock, knock, knock* _"Leslie"

_*knock, knock, knock* _"Leslie"

_*knock, knock, knock* _"Leslie"

Leslie walks to the door and flings it open to find Sheldon standing on the other side.

"What do _you_ want?" She asks.

"I hear you are giving a lecture today." Sheldon responds.

"Yes, and."

"I just wanted to let you know that I intend to attend said lecture."

"It's an open lecture, you don't have to reserve a seat. "

"I know, I just want you to be aware so that you are able to answer any questions I may have to the best of your ability. We don't want you to be embarrassed."

"First of all, I have nothing to be embarrassed about. My lectures are some of the best guest lectures given here... why do you think Gablehauser keeps asking me to speak . They are certainly better than your borefest lectures."

"My lectures are not boring, they are very informative and educational."

"Yes, but boring. No one cares what you have to say if you can't make it interesting. Look, you're more than welcome to attend my lecture and ask all the questions you want, but they better be on topic. Do not come in and try to throw me off my game and disrupt my flow."

"Well, someone sounds nervous." Sheldon says with a sneaky grin. " If you are as great as everyone claims you are , you should be able to handle anything that's thrown at you on topic or not."

"Look here stringbean" Leslie says with anger filling her voice. "I said you can ask all the questions you want within reason, but if you even attempt to heckle me in the slightest I will snap your boney ass in half in front of the entire lecture hall... do you want that to happen Dr. Cooper?"

Stunned, Sheldon takes a step back and quietly says "I can't say that I do."

As Leslie and Sheldon stare each other down, Raj walks into Leslie's office carrying a beautiful bouquet of flowers. He hands them to her and gives her a kiss."

"Sheldon, what are you doing here?" He asks.

"I was just discussing Dr. Winkle's upcoming lecture with her."

"Well I think we are done here and I would like to have a moment with Raj, if you don't mind. " Leslie says to Sheldon.

"Of course, I will see you later."

Leslie walks Sheldon to the door and as he walks out she slams it shut behind him.

"I swear that Sheldon Cooper is a pain in the ass."

"Calm down... he's harmless."

"Well, the flowers are nice. What are they for?"

"Just to wish you luck on your lecture."

"Aww, that's nice but this isn't my first lecture."

"I know, but this is your first one with me as your boyfriend." Raj says smiling.

"Thanks... I have a feeling this is going to be the worst."

"Why do you say that, I hear you're pretty good."

"That damn Sheldon!" Leslie snarls. "I was calm, I was prepared, and now I'm frustrated and upset. Why can't he just accept the fact that he's not the best at everything?"

Raj rubs Leslie's shoulders and tries to calm her down.

"Don't let him get to you, not now. If you go in there irritable and upset he's going to love it because he won."

"I guess."

"I want you relaxed so that you can go in there and give everyone the great speech they're expecting. What can I do to help you?"

Leslie pauses for a moment and thinks.

"Have sex with me." She responds.

"What?"

"I'm serious, sexual intercourse works very well as a stress reliever."

"We're at work, where would we do it?"

"How about in here?" Leslie says looking around her office.

"No, too many people will be stopping by before your lecture. How about the showers?"

"Nah, too messy and I don't want to get my hair wet. I'll take a shower afterward by myself."

"Do you want to run back to my apartment?"

"I don't have time, my lecture is in a little more than an hour. We need to get it done so that I can take a quick shower and go over my notes again."

Leslie sits down at her desk and starts to go over her notes.

"Nevermind, I thought you could help me out."

"Sorry I couldn't. I'll leave you so that you can study. I'll see in the lecture hall."

As Raj starts to walk out the door a frustrated Leslie stands up and walks towards him.

"Are you serious!" She yells at Raj.

"What did I do?" He asks puzzled.

"I'm asking you to have sex with me to help relieve my stress and you're not going to take me up on it? What guy turns down sex...especially sex with me because its awesome."

"It is awesome." Raj says grinning and shaking his head.

"So what's the problem, I'm practically begging you for sex. How does that happen."

"I wasn't aware that you were begging... I've never had a woman beg me for sex before."

"Well I'm not really begging, that was a poor choice of words on my part."

"No, no, no, let's go with begging, I think its sexy."

Leslie walks up to Raj and presses her body against his and pulls him close and softly whispers in his ear.

"Oh Raj, I am _begging _you to take me and have your way with me."

She pushes him away and walks back to her desk.

"Was that good enough for you."

"Yeah it was, I'll meet you in my office. My desk is huge, there's plenty of space."

Raj opens the door and runs down the hallway to his office where he clears everything off his desk and stashes it away. He takes off his windbreaker and lays it on the chair and positions himself in a sexy pose top of the desk. He adjusts himself when there is a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" He asks with delight.

"Dr. Winkle, may I come in."

"Yes Dr. Winkle, come on in."

Leslie looks around before walking in to make sure no other staff members see her entering Raj's office. After making sure no one was around she walks in and quickly closes the door. Leslie who is caught off guard by Raj posing on the desk sees him and starts to laugh.

"What are you doing?" She asks.

"Come on Leslie, you're ruining the mood." Raj whines as he hops off of the desk and walks past Leslie to lock the door.

"Alright, sorry."

"Okay... now let's get started." He says as he walks over to Leslie takes her hand and leads her to his desk.


	13. Chapter 13- The Cold Shoulder

"Come on Sheldon, help me straighten up." Leonard says as he tidies the apartment. "Everyone will be here we need to make some space. "

"Oh great, will Leslie be joining us?" Sheldon asks.

"Yes, is that a problem?"

"Quite the opposite, I'm actually looking forward to her joining us. I hate to admit it, but her lecture the other day was quite fascinating. I'm looking forward to talking to her about it."

"Sheldon, she's coming for dinner. Don't bother her about that now. "

"Why wouldn't I talk to her about it now?"

"Because that's work related, we are all here as friends sitting around having dinner. Why didn't you just talk to her after the lecture like everyone else did?"

"Because she gave me a look, and I didn't want her to know that I actually enjoyed her lecture."

"She probably could tell by the big smile and look of awe on your face. So I take it you've forgiven her for writing on your board?'

"THAT'S RIGHT! My board... I knew there was a reason I hated her."

"How did you forget about that?"

"I think I was just caught up in the moment."

"Just leave her alone Sheldon. Its time to move past it."

Sheldon and Leonard continue to talk when Penny walks in and flops down on the couch.

"Where's dinner? she asks. "And where is everyone else at."

"Everyone's on their way and Raj and Leslie are picking up dinner."

"Oh great" Penny says sarcastically. "Raj is bringing Leslie."

"Leslie is pretty cool if you get to know her, Penny." Leonard says.

"Yeah, I'm sure you just love her."

"What? Are you trying to say something."

"Nope, not at all... Sounds like someone is coming up the stairs, maybe its them."

Penny walks to the door and looks out, but sees Howard, Bernadette, and Amy walking up the stairs.

"Hey guys" She yells out.

"Hey Bestie!" Amy calls out to her.

"Where are Raj and Leslie?"

"They're not with us." Bernadette replies. " I didn't know Leslie was coming."

"Yeah, I guess we can look forward to spending a lot of nights with her now that _Raj_ is dating her."

"Oh, Goodie" Bernadette responds with hostility in her voice.

Everyone walks into Leonard and Sheldon's place and finds a spot to sit. As they sit they proceed to talk and gossip about Raj and Leslie.

"So, Raj and Leslie are late... is that going to be an all the time thing?" Penny says.

"Well, Leslie isn't always the most punctual person but I'm sure they will be here soon." Leonard says trying to defend them.

I don't know much about this Leslie but from what I hear she sounds like quite the man-eater." Amy says "I always thought my Sheldon was safe until recently. He keeps going on and on about this lecture and how mesmerized he was. I think she finally found his weakness."

"Amy, I am not thinking about Leslie, I got caught up in the science and forgot that she is my mortal enemy." Sheldon scolds.

"She's harmless, Amy, just get to know her." Leonard insists.

"You sure do stick up for her a lot." Penny says to Leonard.

"I don't defend her a lot, I just feel like she's getting a bad rap from you guys."

"Well cut it out, I don't like it." Penny says cutting her eyes at him.

"Hey everyone! Sorry we're late." Raj says as he and Leslie walk in the door.

"Yeah, sorry that was my fault. I got caught up in the lab." Leslie says.

"Well you're here now, and we're starving." Penny snaps.

"o..k.." Leslie says confused by Penny's attitude. "Leonard gave me the order today at work, hopefully I got everything right."

"I'm sure you did." Leonard says as he stands up and helps Leslie and Raj pass out the food.

Once the food is passed out, Leslie attempts to make small talk with the rest of the group.

"So Sheldon, did you enjoy my lecture the other day?"

"Not really." Sheldon responds. " I found it rather boring and there was no real educational value."

"That's not what I heard!" Leslie says in a playful voice.

"He said he didn't like it, get off his back!" Amy snaps.

"O..k.., so Howard I never got a chance to congratulate you on going to the Space Station! When I heard I was so happy for you, I know one of your goals was to make it into space. By the time you came back I was already gone. "

"Thanks Leslie, It was awesome. Remember when I was telling you about..." Howard says stopping dead in the middle of his sentence once he realizes that Bernadette is giving him an evil look. "It was good." He finishes.

"Alright... Bernadette, Raj tells me you're a microbiologist, I actually thought about going into microbiology when I was in high school. I was seriously considering being a virologist."

"Well isn't that nice.." Bernadette says very sternly not even looking in Leslie's direction.

Leslie, disturbed by how rude everyone was being towards her sat back in her chair and quietly ate her food. Everyone ate in silence for a while, but soon the mood lightened and everyone started talking. Leslie didn't say much to anyone unless she was talking to Raj. Leonard tried to talk to her, but would get nasty looks from Penny, the same with Howard and Bernadette. The few times Leslie did try to engage in conversation with the other ladies she was met with snarky remarks and attitudes. Once finished with her dinner, she takes Raj by the hand.

"Can I talk to you alone for a minute." She asks.

"Of course you can, let's go outside." He says.

Leslie and Raj stand up, excuse themselves and walk outside of Leonard and Sheldon's apartment. Once outside with the door closed Leslie gives Raj a huge hug.

"What's that for?" Raj asks confused.

"For being a great guy." Leslie says as she lets go. "But I don't think this is going to work out."

"What's not going to work out? "

"Us. I know how much your friends mean to you and its obvious that they don't like me. I don't want to come between you and them so I'm just going to end things now before they get too serious between us."

"Leslie come on, they don't mean anything by it. "

"I think they do. I'm really trying to get along with everyone but its obvious they don't want me here."

She hugs him again and gives him a kiss.

" Take care."

"Leslie, let me talk to them. They'll come around."

"Its okay."

"We came here together. Let me at least take you home and we can talk about this." Raj pleads.

"Its okay, I'll take a cab... Goodbye Raj."

Leslie walks down the steps as Raj stands and watches her. Devastated that Leslie just broke up with him he leans up against the wall and tries to keep himself from crying. Once he gets himself together he takes a deep breath and opens the door and walks back into the apartment and sits without saying a word to anyone.

"Where's Leslie?" Leonard asks.

"She broke up with me." Raj says sadly.

"What, why?" Leonard asks.

Raj stands up looks at his friends and his sadness turns to anger.

"Because of all of you!" He shouts.

"What do you mean because of us." Penny asks.

"You've done nothing but make her feel uncomfortable the entire time she was here. She was really trying to be nice to every one of you. Sheldon, she hasn't called you a single name and you have said how much you enjoyed her lecture and when she asks you about it you shoot her down. And you three were very rude. I've never seen you all act like that before. Penny you've been my friend for six years! Why would you treat my girlfriend like that? And Bernadette I always talk about how nice and sweet you are. She even tried to talk to you about microbiology, something the two of you have in common and you blow her off. Then you two won't even let Leonard and Howard say two words to her without giving them dirty looks. And Amy, what's your deal? There's no excuse for the way you spoke to her. Things were going great between Leslie and myself but she broke up with me because of all of you, my so-called friends that obviously don't like her. I've put up with so much of all of your relationship drama, and I did it because I'm a friend. Apparently I'm a better friend to all of you than you all are to me."

Raj grabs his jacket and walks out and slams the door. Everyone sits in silence not knowing what to say.

"I feel really bad." Bernadette says. " I don't know why I was being so mean to her. I guess I was just thinking Howie would take interest in her again, but I never meant to hurt Raj."

"Yeah" Penny says sadly. "I guess I was so mad at Leonard for what happened at the dance class that I just took it out on her. I owe her an apology, Raj too."

"Yeah me too." Bernadette says.

Everyone sits upset and sad that they just ruined a relationship and hurt their friend Raj in the process.


	14. Chapter 14- The Lab Isolation

Staring at a plate of turkey and mashed potatoes, Raj picks up his fork and drags it across his plate. Drawing several swirls in his potatoes he then takes a fork full, about to put it in his mouth and drops it back down on his plate. Sad and broken he slouches in his chair rubbing his hand through his hair, just as Howard, Leonard, and Sheldon walk up and sit down.

"How're you doing, buddy?" Howard asks.

"I don't feel like being bothered, I just want to eat alone." Raj says about to leave the table. Howard in an attempt to talk to him pulls him back down into his seat.

"Look, we're sorry about what happened the other night, but you have to talk to us. How long do you plan on ignoring us?"

"Raj, I really tried to be nice and welcome Leslie." Leonard says. "I don't have a problem with her at all, but Penny's my girlfriend...and you don't want your girlfriend upset with you."

"At least you still have a girlfriend. My girlfriend broke up with me because all of my friends are asses."

"I guess I owe you an apology also," Sheldon says. "I did enjoy Leslie's lecture but I let our lifelong feud get in the way."

"Lifelong feud? You've only know her a few years." Raj reminds him.

Leslie walks past the table refusing to make eye contact with any of the guys sitting there. She takes her coffee and salad and sits alone at a small table on the corner of the room. Raj watches her, wanting to say something to her but is afraid she won't want to speak to him.

"Excuse me." He says to his friends as he grabs his tray and slowly makes his way across the cafeteria to the little table in the corner.

"Leslie, can we talk...please?' He asks as he sits down at the table with her.

"Raj, this isn't the time." Leslie says.

Raj tries to take Leslie's hand, but she pulls it away. "I'm gonna go eat in the lab." She says as she grabs her food and walks out of the cafeteria.

Raj sits alone at the table and slumps down into the chair. Howard, Feeling sorry for his friend walks over and sits down with him.

"What did she say." He asks.

"She doesn't want to talk now. She went to eat in the lab."

"Just give her some time, she'll come around."

"I think I'm going to go talk to her."

"Just leave her alone. She will talk when she's ready."

"I'm gonna go back to my office." Raj says as he gets up and leaves the cafeteria.

Howard watches him go, and then goes back and sits with Leonard and Sheldon.

"I don't know what else to say to him." Howard says

"Maybe we should talk to Leslie and apologize. Hopefully she'll listen to us.

"Raj said she went to eat in the lab, you want to go now?"

"Yeah, let's go."

Howard and Leonard stand and get ready to walk to the lab to talk to Leslie when Leonard realizes that Sheldon is still sitting at the table.

"Sheldon, come on."

"Oh, no thanks. I would rather sit here and finish my lunch."

"Come on Sheldon." Howard urges. "Our friend is hurting and we all caused it. We need to fix this."

"You two go ahead, maybe I'll catch up."

"Fine, suit yourself."

Leonard and Howard leave Sheldon and continue to walk to the lab to see Leslie. When they get there they see Leslie sitting at a lab table eating her salad. Leonard starts to walk in and knocks on the door. Startled by the knocking, Leslie jumps and turns around to see Leonard and Howard walking in. She rolls her eyes, lets out a sigh and turns back around without saying a word.

"Hey Leslie..." Leonard says waiting for a response.

"Hi Leslie, can we talk to you for a minute?" Howard asks.

"So now you guys want to talk to me? I guess its okay now that Penny and Bernadette aren't around." Leslie sneers at the two.

"Look, we're really sorry about that." Howard says. "You know we don't have a problem with you, the ladies were just feeling a little insecure. Everybody feels bad about how we treated you."

"Yeah, ok." Leslie says unimpressed.

"And Raj is really torn up about all of this. He laid into all of us after you left the other day. Like Howard said we are all really sorry about everything and we definitely don't want you to take it out on Raj." Leonard says.

"Look, I was already having second thoughts from the beginning considering my past with the two of you. And you two know that I really don't do serious relationships... maybe this is why. It's just not worth the emotional investment." Leslie says. "Now if you guys will excuse me I have a lot of work to do today and I would like to finish my lunch."

"Alright, we'll talk to you later. Howard says as he walks towards the door.

Leslie gives a sarcastic wave and once again rolls her eyes and continues to eat. Leonard starts to walk out and then stops and turns back to Leslie.

"Um, Howard I need to talk to Leslie alone for a minute. I'll catch up to you later." He says.

"Alright." Howard says before walking out the door.

"Look Leonard, I just want to eat in peace...is that too much to ask?" Leslie says growing impatient.

"I just want to talk to you one on one and apologize for everything. I want to apologize for what I said the night we went to the salsa class, and I definitely want to apologize for everything that went on the other night. I feel like I'm responsible for this mess. I know that I said that I didn't want you and Raj together and I was being selfish, to be honest I think the two of you make a great couple and you seem to bring the best out of each other. You guys are my friends and I feel really bad about hurting both of you. I just wanted to tell you that." Leonard says looking to Leslie for approval. Leslie turns away from Leonard without acknowledging anything he said. Leonard looks down and quietly walks out of the lab.


	15. Chapter 15- The Ladies' Regret

"Whoa Amy, you might want to slow down...I think you've had enough wine for tonight." Penny says with concern as she takes a wine glass out of Amy's hand. Penny and Amy, along with Bernadette, sit around Penny's apartment drinking wine and snacking. As Amy tries to grab her wine glass back from Penny, Bernadette sits quietly thinking to herself.

"Bernadette, are you okay?" Penny asks.

"Why do you ask?"

"You're awfully quiet over there. I was just wondering."

"Actually, I do have something on my mind. I don't know how you will feel about this, but I think we should go see Leslie and apologize."

"Apologize for what?" Amy asks.

"Well we were all pretty mean to her the other night and its been bothering me ever since. Howie said Raj is really upset and will barely talk to him. "

"Really, how is he taking it?" Penny asks.

"Not well. He just wants to be able to talk to his best friend. He had some good news today and went to call Raj and he wouldn't even answer the phone. "

"Wow, really?"

"Yeah. I was really harsh to Leslie. She really does seem like a nice girl, but I let my insecurity get the best of me. I guess everyone has a past, and I shouldn't judge her because of it."

"To be honest, I actually liked her." Penny admits. "The night we all went dancing I overheard a conversation between her and Leonard. It sounded like Leonard still had some feelings for her, but Leslie was not having it and pretty much put Leonard in his place. I didn't want to start a fight with Leonard about it so I think I just channeled my anger to her, which wasn't fair to her at all."

"Well I still don't like that she calls Sheldon names." Amy says sternly. "She undermines his intelligence and tries to make him feel bad about himself."

"Actually, I heard that she only started doing that as a kind of defense mechanism against Sheldon. Apparently, after she fixed a problem on his board that he was unable to fix, he had nothing but nasty things to say to her. " Bernadette explains.

"I don't believe that." Amy says trying to defend Sheldon.

"It's true, I heard the same thing." Penny says while sipping her glass of wine. "She was just beating Sheldon at his own game.

"Also, Howie told me that Leslie promised to stop calling him names when she started dating Raj and she never did call him a name the whole time they were dating. She did it because Raj wanted her to hang out with us and she knew how important his friends are to him."

"Wow, I feel like an ass." Amy says under her breath. "I can't believe I treated her so badly and Sheldon's the one who started the mess between them."

"Hey, let's see if we can find her address and we can go talk to her." Penny says with excitement.

"Well I can just call Howard, I'm sure he can give it to us." Bernadette suggests.

Bernadette gets her phone and proceeds to call Howard. Amy and Penny straighten up and get themselves ready to go out while Bernadette gets the address and directions from Howard.


	16. Chapter 16- The Homewrecking Huzzy

Standing alone in an unfamiliar hallway, Sheldon looks down at a piece of paper he has folded up in his hand. He unfolds it, looks it over, and looks up at his surroundings. Realizing he still had a little further to go, he continues walking until he finally reaches his destination.

"Aha, here it is." He says to himself.

He walks up to the door and tucks the piece of paper into his pocket and prepares to knock on the door.

_*knock,knock,knock* _"Leslie."

_*knock,knock,knock* _"Leslie."

_*knock,knock,knock* _"Leslie."

He waits for a moment and listens at the door for any activity. Just as he is about to knock again the door flings open. He straightens himself up to find Leslie standing at the door in her bathrobe with her arms crossed on front of her.

"What are you doing here?" She snaps.

"I just came to talk to you." Sheldon replies.

"I don't have anything to talk to you about."

"Just hear me out. You might like what I have to say."

"Ok, what is it."

"I lied."

"What?"

"I lied."

"Lied about what? What the hell are you talking about?"

"Your lecture, I lied when I told you that I wasn't impressed. I actually found it quiet fascinating." He says with a child-like grin.

"Sheldon, you're not telling me anything I didn't already know. I know you liked it, Raj told me and I could just tell... you had the same dumb look on your face then that you do now."

"I am trying to apologize and you're not making it easy. "

"Why should I make it easy? You take every chance you get to try to tear me down Sheldon. You never have anything good to say about anything I do. "

"Well its hard to compliment you on anything when you're always calling me dumbass."

"You know I started calling you dumbass when you started going around the university trashing me to everyone. You even went to Gablehauser and tried to get me fired! That was low Sheldon, you have to admit that."

"Maybe I went a little too far when I went to Gablehauser."

"That's the only time you went too far?" Leslie says as she laughs. "You go too far all the time. And its all over your board! Most people would say thank you when someone helps them out with something, not try to get them FIRED!"

"It wasn't just about the board. While you shouldn't have touched my board, you never said you were sorry for tampering with my equation. What if you had messed it up, thus causing me my Nobel Peace Prize?"

"I didn't mess it up, I FIXED it! I fixed it and you still didn't get a Nobel Peace Prize."

"That's not the point."

"I think you're threatened by me."

Sheldon sucks his teeth and puts his hands on his hips. "Threatened by _you._"

"Yes, you don't like that there is someone that's just as smart, if not smarter, than you."

"Smarter than me, you're a hoot Leslie Winkle."

"Seriously. I'm just as smart as you are, I have beaten you at several academic challenges, and not only that I also have people and common sense skills. I can actually function in the real world without a how-to guide and you don't like it. Just admit it."

"Admit what?"

"That I am just as smart, if not smarter than you."

"You are definitely not smarter than me."

"Well admit that I am just as smart as you."

Sheldon gives Leslie a stern look and his face starts to twitch.

"SAY IT SHELDON!"

"Fine. You are just as smart as I am."

"Why thank you Sheldon." Leslie says mocking his Texas accent.

"Now wait, can you admit that you shouldn't have touched my board without talking to me about it first."

"Sure... you're right. I shouldn't have taken it upon myself to change your board. I should have just pointed it out to you and let you decide what you wanted to do with it. My apologies."

"Thank you."

"Sheldon, we didn't always hate each other. We used to actually get along before all of that. Why don't we try to put everything behind us and be friends again."

"I guess I'm not opposed to us becoming friends again. Will you stop calling me dumbass?"

"Will you stop bad mouthing me to everyone?"

"Yes."

"Good. Plus I had already stopped calling you dumbass, Raj made me promise."

"That Raj!" Sheldon says smiling and shaking his head in approval. Now what about you and Rajesh. I normally don't get involved in the relationship woes of my peers, but he has been a sad mess since you broke up with him."

"That's a little more complicated."

"How? Do you like him?"

"Yes."

"Did you enjoy spending time with him?"

"Yes."

"Does he feel the same way about you?"

"As far as I know."

"Oh don't be crazy, you know he does. He's crazy about you. I think you should give him another chance. It's not his fault you broke up with him. You shouldn't make him suffer for the childish behavior or his friends."

"Wow, listen to you giving out relationship advice. And surprisingly good advice at that."

"Well, I do what I can."

"I almost want to give you a hug."

"Oh no, that's not necessary. I don't do hugs."

"Come on, I just took a shower, so I'm clean!"

"I guess that is a bonus."

As Sheldon stands with his arms to his sides, Leslie gives him a great big hug.

"It was so sweet of you to come by and talk to me." She says still hugging him.

All of a sudden they hear a loud thump. Startled, they both jump and look to see what the noise was.

"YOU GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF HIM YOU HOMEWRECKING HUZZY!" Amy shouts from the end of the hallway.

Amy stands enraged at the end of the hallway with her purse thrown down on the ground as Penny and Bernadette look on speechless.

"Amy Farrah Fowler, what has gotten into you?" Sheldon asks with concern.

"I never thought I would have to worry about you falling prey to the maneater."

"Wow, the maneater, is that me?" Leslie asks.

"Yes its you." Amy says pointing her finger as she walks down the hall towards them. "I have put in too much time with Sheldon to let you come in and try to snatch him up from under me."

" You have it all wrong, he came here to apologize. He said something sweet and I gave him a hug."

"He doesn't like hugs."

"I'm clean, I just took a shower."

"Well then, he may have very well accepted a hug in that case. My apologies."

"Its alright."

"Leslie, we just wanted to come and talk to you for a minute. Do you mind if we come in?" Bernadette asks.

"Sure, come on in. Have a seat in the livingroom, I'm going to throw some clothes on.

"Ok, thanks."

"Well I'll leave you ladies to talk, I will see you all later." Sheldon says as he starts to walk away.

The girls say their goodbyes to Sheldon and file into Leslie's apartment. Penny, Bernadette, and Amy all have a seat in the livingroom as Leslie walks into her bedroom to change her clothes and prepares herself for what might turn out to be a very long night.


	17. Chapter 17- The Buried Hatchet

Letting out a long sigh as she opens the door, Leslie walks out into the livingroom where Penny, Bernadette, and Amy were sitting and waiting for her. There is an awkward silence as she makes her way across the room and sits in the recliner.

"Um, would anyone like a drink?" She asks her guests.

"Do you have any wine?" Penny asks.

"Yeah, white...is that okay?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

"I'll be right back."

Leslie goes to the kitchen and grabs four wine glasses from the cabinet and a bottle of wine from the refrigerator. She starts to look for the corkscrew when she's caught off guard by Penny walking into the kitchen.

"Hey." Penny says timidly.

"Hey."

"I thought maybe we should talk one on one."

"Alright..." Leslie says hesitantly as she sits everything down and leans against the counter.

"You know I heard the conversation between you and Leonard, right."

"Yeah, I know."

"I wasn't upset with you, I was upset with him and I took it out on you. And I'm very sorry. I wasn't being fair to you at all."

"It's alright. "

"No, it's not alright. I was a total bitch, and I lashed out at the wrong person."

"I honestly don't think Leonard meant anything by what he said, he's crazy about you... always has been. I just think he was confused, and just didn't know what to say."

"Yeah...maybe you're right."

"Well, we should get back out there." Leslie says as she shuffles through the drawer and grabs the corkscrew.

"Yeah, I'll help you carry some of this stuff."

Penny grabs the wine glasses and Leslie takes the corkscrew and the wine out to the livingroom where Bernadette and Amy are waiting for them.

"Is everything alright with you two?" Amy asks.

"Yeah, we're good. I think." Penny says looking at Leslie.

Leslie smiles and shakes her head yes as she pours the wine into the glasses. She sits in the recliner indian style and starts to sip her glass of wine. Once again an awkward silence has spread over the room as the women sip their wine and look around not knowing who should say what first.

"Well," Bernadette begins, "The reason we're all here is to apologize for the way that we treated you the other day. I'm sure you felt just as uncomfortable as we did, but at least you made an effort to get to know us."

"I think I kinda knew that would happen... I told Raj I didn't want to hang out with you guys."

"Oh...really?" Bernadette says feeling a little hurt.

"Yeah, but it was nothing personal against you all. I just wanted to avoid all of this drama. I mean I did sleep with your husband and (pointing to Penny) your boyfriend. I just don't understand what _your_ problem is with me?" Leslie says looking at Amy.

"Well..." Amy begins. "I am just aware of how badly you have treated Sheldon in the past and given your pattern of engaging in coitus with this group of friends, I just naturally assumed you would try to seduce him also."

"Seriously... seduce Sheldon? Now you're just being ridiculous."

"Why do you say that?

Leslie lets out a chuckle, but holds back from saying anything mean to spare Amy's feelings. "He's just not my type." She says dismissively.

"Do you have a type? It seems like all men are your type."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Nothing bad. I just heard that you were, as they say, sexually liberated."

"Look, I'm not going to apologize for my past, but I don't think I should be judged because of it. I'm sure everyone here has some things in their past their not happy about."

"Oh, yeah I can definitely relate." Penny says as she guzzles the rest of her wine and pours some more.

"So what... I like to have sex. That doesn't mean I'm going to sleep with every man I know. I'm not the only person in the world who has had an active sex life."

"Not at all sister!" Penny blurts out.

"Yeah..." Bernadette says quietly.

"I guess I'm the only one who's not just giving it away." Amy says .

"I was a little more free-spirited when I was younger." Leslie laughs. "I'm different now. I tried to do the relationship thing before, hell I even tried with Leonard, but I just wasn't feeling it. I wasn't ready. I've matured and am ready for a real relationship."

"So what made you want to you want to try with Raj?" Bernadette questions.

"Well, honestly.. I always thought he was cute! You have to admit he's kind of a hottie."

"Yeah he is." Bernadette agrees.

"But he would never talk to me. He would wave and smile, but we never had a conversation."

"You know that wasn't anything personal... He's like that with all women."

"I know now...Howard actually told me, but obviously it was too late then. "

"How _did_ you get him to talk to you?"

"I don't know. I was talking to him and a couple of other people at the university about my research trip, and when I was about to leave he pulled me aside and started talking. At first I was like 'damn, he's got some balls coming to work drunk' but then I realized that he hadn't been drinking. And he's so nice, and sweet we just clicked... " Leslie's voice trails off and she gets quiet. The other girls can tell she misses him.

"He's been miserable without you." Penny says softly.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Are you going to talk to him?" Bernadette asks her,

"I don't know. " She says as she takes a deep breath and slowly exhales trying to hold back tears. "Excuse me for a minute."

Leslie walks off into the bedroom and sits on the edge of her bed and fans her eyes to keep from crying. She realized at that moment how much she really missed Raj and felt horrible for breaking up with him. Leslie picks up the robe she had thrown on the bed and uses it to blot her eyes when she hears a knock on the bedroom door. She opens it to see Bernadette standing there.

"Are you okay?" Bernadette says as she reaches out and gently touches Leslie's arm.

"Yeah, I'm fine... I'll be right out." Leslie says trying to sound upbeat.

"Why don't we have some dinner delivered... is that okay with you?"

"Sure, that's fine."

"Can I give you a hug? I think you could use one."

Leslie lets out a slight laugh "Sure, I guess."

Bernadette gives Leslie a hug and rubs her back. As they pull away from each other Bernadette smiles at her and says "I really want us to bury the hatchet... I like you, I think we could be friends."

"Yeah, maybe we can."

"Come on, let's go order dinner.

Bernadette and Leslie go back to Penny and Amy so that they can order dinner and enjoy the rest of the evening. They spend the rest of the night eating, drinking, laughing and end up becoming very close by the end of the night.


	18. Chapter 18- The Final Chapter

Shuffling through the refrigerator looking for something to eat, Raj is distracted by the sound of Babita barking at the door.

"Quiet down Babs." He says as he looks to see what she is barking at.

He pulls some items out of the fridge and lays them out on the counter as Babita runs over to him and back at the door.

"Do you need to go out?" He asks her.

Babita runs back to the door and continues to bark and jump up on the door.

"Alright, alright, I'm coming."

He puts the food back in the refrigerator and starts to walk towards the door. Babita stops barking and runs circles around Raj's feet. Raj, concerned with her behavior, picks her up and looks at her.

"Babs, what's going on with you? I thought you needed to go out."

Babita starts to whimper as she wags her tail and looks at the door. Raj puts her down and continues to walk across the room.

"See Babita" He says as he starts to open the door. "There's no one out here..."

He opens the door to find Leslie pacing in the hallway.

"Leslie?" He says confused. "What are you doing here?"

"I came to talk to you, if that's okay."

"Of course it's okay, come in."

Leslie begins to walk in as Babita joyfully runs and jumps on Leslie's legs.

"Hey, Babita!" Leslie says picking up the dog and stroking her hair. "How are you?"

Babita licks Leslie as she wiggles around in her arms. Leslie lets out a laugh and sits the dog back down on the floor.

"Looks like someone missed you." Raj says somberly.

"Yeah...I missed her too." Leslie says quietly.

"Just her?"

"No." Leslie says shaking her head. "I missed you too, and I understand if you don't want anything to do with me after the way I treated you..."

Before Leslie could finish her sentence Raj grabs her and the two engage in a passionate kiss.

"I'm not mad at you. Look Leslie, I don't care how my friends feel about you I still want us to be together."

"Really?"

"Yes, what about you? Do you want to be with me?"

"I do but..."

"But nothing, if we want to be together we should be together no matter what anyone else thinks. "

"Everyone apologized, they all felt pretty bad about everything...especially hurting you. They miss you too."

"Well they should. I've been friends with these people for years, you would think that they would like to see me happy."

"They do, and you can forgive them like I did. Even Sheldon came knocking on my door... "

"Sheldon Cooper?"

"Yeah...who would've thought."

"So...are we back together?"

"Yeah, I guess."

"You guess?"

"Yes Raj! We're back together."

"Good."

Raj pulls Leslie into him for a hug. He kisses her on the forehead as his hands caress her soft curls.

"Next time you're having doubts about our relationship talk to me about it before you rush to break up."

"Alright, you know I'm not good at this but I'll try."

"That's all I ask. You want to hang with me tonight? We can celebrate, I was just about to make something to eat before you came."

"I'm not really hungry, but I do know of something else we can do."

"What's that?"

"Well, you know they say make-up sex is the best sex..."

"And I think we have a lot of making up to do."

Raj and Leslie once again start to kiss as they make their way to the couch. Raj sits and pulls Leslie down on top of him. As she sits on top of him they begin to undress each other when there is a knock at the door.

"Who is that?" Leslie asks.

"I don't know... just be quiet, they'll go away." Raj says as he continues to kiss her.

The person at the door knocks again but Raj and Leslie continue to ignore it. Finally fed up with the knocking Raj calls out to the person at the door.

"I'm busy now... call me later." He shouts.

"Raj! Open the door!" The person yells from the other side of the door. "Come on it's been long enough."

"Howard?! Is that you?"

"Yes, now open the door!" Howard yells.

"I said I'm busy. I'll call you later."

Howard opens the door and storms in.

"I know your upset, but this... oh... I'm sorry...you appear to be busy. Heeey Leslie" Howard says embarrassed that he just walked in on his friends about to have sex.

"Hey, Howard." Leslie says as she takes her clothes and covers herself .

"Dude, I told you I was busy and that I would call you later...How did you get in anyway.?"

"The emergency key you gave me.. Well, it's nice to see that you two lovebirds have made up."

"DUDE! We're in the middle of making up right now. Get out!" Raj says as he takes his hand and tries to cover Leslie up."

"Of course, of course... Call me later." Howard says as he quickly walks out and locks the door.

Speechless, Raj and Leslie just look at each other and begin to laugh.

"Well, that was uncomfortable." Leslie says unable to control her laughter.

"Yeah, sorry about that."

"Maybe we should go in the bedroom." Leslie says.

"Come on."

Leslie jumps up and runs in the bedroom as Raj follows behind. As Raj goes to close the bedroom door Babita sneaks her way in. Raj picks her up and places her outside of the door. and says "Not right now Babs." as he shuts the door.

_*****This is going to be the end of 'The Koothrappali Conflict'. Keep a look out for my next story,**__** 'Life Upside Down' which**__** picks up where this one left off and incorporates Leslie into the group of friends. First Chapter should be up 4/1/13 Hope you enjoyed!*****_


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